Hello to everybody, time for another interview, I’m getting pretty good at stalking these authors on the Internets and cornering them until they give in and take part in this “fun”, I’m turning into a right little Annie Wilkes. So please wave at the latest amazing writer I have found, his book Beastie has been the best that I have read so far in 2024…I give you Jack O’Donnell…..
Q1: Tell us a bit about yourself?
Half-man, half-fish, but with dodgy knees. I live in Clydebank. I’ve had trips abroad to places like London. But I’m a Bannkie. Lived here almost all of my life. Part of the second or third generation Scottish Irish and mad Celtic fan. I feel sorry for the next generation because we really fucked up the world for them. I don’t own much, but I’m prepared to share my bus pass.
Q2: What is Beastie about? Where did you get the idea from?
When people ask what you write about (they don’t ask, I made that bit up) I reply: Arseholes like us. I know all the characters in the novel. They live and breathe and live in Clydebank.
Beastie is about us.
Q3: The book contains a lot of violence; how difficult did you find it to write those scenes?
Pretty easy. We were brought up to fight and scrap with each other. Teachers belted even the smallest kids. It was taken as a given that the police would beat you up. Booze was an escape, but also fuel to the fire.
Q4: How has the book been received? Has it been tough to find the right readers?
Locally, by that I mean, in and around Clydebank, sales have been OK. It’s almost impossible to find readers outside my catchment area because there are so many other books all vying for readers’ attention. There are no wrong readers, well, apart from my sister, who gave the book one star because it was smutty. But she’s a tough critic. She battered me when I was younger. So I don’t argue with her now.
Q5: I thought I’d do a bit of research to see if you had written anything else and on Goodreads it says you are the author of “Amazon Fire TV Stick User Guide: Setup Your Fire TV Stick in 30 Minutes and Start Enjoying Your Favorite Shows” Was that really written by you?
That was my very bestseller. Jeff Bezos and me are around the same age. He agreed to split the profits. He gets 99.999999999% and I get to say he used to follow me on Twitter.
I was also author of the first crowd-funded novel in Scotland, Lily Poole. Nobody much read that either, including me.
What was unusual about me winning Story of the Month here was this story, Windfall, didn’t win Story of the Week (another of my stories won that).
I’ve lots of stories nobody reads. I assume most unagented writers do. They just pile up like unwanted gnomes.
Waiting to be collected up into a short story collection I reckons.
Q6: Beastie was based in the 1970’s and due to my time travelling antics I know for a fact Gnomes were alive and well in those days…so why are they absent from the book?
Gnomes aren’t absent from this book. They are just underrepresented. When there is a fight in the local, gnomes get a right kicking and become gnomeless.
Q7: A lot of local dialect was used in Beastie, which is your favourite phrase that you used?
‘Drookit.’ I had to keep to below three references. It’s like Eskimos with snow. There’s always more.
Q8: If you could go into a book or movie as one of the characters which book would you choose and how would you influence the story?
Donald Trump: The Art of the Deal. We’re in Stephen King territory here. If you know that a narcissistic, psychopathic, rapist, draft-dodging, liar is going to take over the free world and burn it to a frazzle, what kind of deal do you strike?
Q9: Statement: Rangers is best! Counter argument?
Three Kings. Busby, Shankly, Stein. All ex-miners. Stein shunned by his former friends and colleagues. His crime? Not guilty of marrying a Catholic like Graham Sourness, who was questioned about his wife’s religion, but much worse, managing a football team that kept winning. Celtic didn’t discriminate between church or chapel or what school players went to. Kenny Dalglish, Dixie Deans, Danny McGrain. Protestants. Some of the best players ever to pull on a Celtic jersey.
Rangers are best at hating the other, excluding the other, while hand on heart saying they’ve changed their Ulster-Catholic-hating-colonial mentality that’s always up to it’s knees in Fenian blood. Surrender or you’ll die.
Both football teams aren’t very good. It doesn’t seem that long ago, Aberdeen beat Real Madrid in a final. Dundee United beat Barcelona, home and away and got to the European Cup semi-final. It’ll never happen again.
Q10: GNOME QUESTION!!!! If the apocalypse was about to happen how would you survive the Attack of the Gnomes? I’m putting together a handbook, you got a random bit of advice to add?
Find a phone box and phone me. You’ll need two pence for the phone.
Great advice cos nobody would think of having 2p on them at important events like this.
Q11: What plans you got for the future, you made a start on the next book? I would love to read a sequel to Beastie, it doesn’t feel like the story is over yet.
I have a stack of first drafts, including Angel’s Glasgow Kiss. I can promise you, it’s not a happy ending. I was also rewriting the Huts at Kilmacolm and Ugly Puggly. But then I started writing something else. It wasn’t very good. But it may get better. The problem isn’t writing. The problem is selling the story to someone that can sell it to the reader.
Practical task: I am doing a gnome gallery on my blog, can you create a piece of artwork based on Gnomes, can be any medium and you are welcome to name the piece.
My granny knitted this.
Many thanks for taking part in this, reckon I shall have to go check out Lily Poole now, I enjoyed Windfall. If you would like to stalk Jack…maybe you are a Rangers fan seeking a counter-counter-argument…you can find him on Twitter. Beastie comes highly recommended by me, check it out cos you’re missing out big time.
Check out Jack’s blog HERE:
When asked if there was a recommended tune to prepare the reader for Beastie this were the reply.
Craig (Sleeping Giants) wrote an anthem for Beastie. But he fell asleep and forgot to send it to me. Typical Dalmuir, Middle Finger.
Book is available from Jack’s best mate Jeff on Amazon.
📚 Share the Magic, Share the Page! 🌟 #BeastieNovel #BookBuzz” 😈
Gnome Appreciation Society 